Skip the bland boxed stuffing mix and make these juicy sausage stuffing balls instead. They’re loaded with dried cranberries, pecans and sage for a lovely festive twist and are super easy to prep ahead of time (up to 3 days!)ย Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas and they make fab party bites too. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (I love this herby green tahini sauce).
I love serving stuffing as little meatballs on the side of a spread. It means they’re already portioned out, and never run the risk of drying out after being in the oven for a long time inside a roasted chicken or turkey.
They couldn’t be easier – just mix your favorite sausage meat with festive cranberries and pecans, fresh breadcrumbs, herbs and an egg to bind everything together. They’re juicy, SUPER moreish and a wonderful side to enjoy over the holiday season. And if you have any leftovers, you can throw them into this easy baked celebration rice, full of festive flavors.
I also love making these as little party snacks – load them all up on a big serving plate and serve them with cranberry sauce or spicy aioli on the side for a fun festive bite.
Ingredients
- Sausages. Use your favorite sausages here – ideally a good quality, free-range pork sausage.
- Dried cranberries. These little pops of sweetness are delicious and festive, but you could swap them for another dried fruit. I also like using apricots.
- Pecans. Similarly, the pecans work well with the cranberries but you could swap them for another nut – pistachios, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or cashews would work too.
- Bread. We’re using fresh bread here – you can either chop the slices up finely or pop them into a food processor to blitz. Don’t worry if there are some chunkier pieces. I like using sourdough, but any soft bread will do.
- Za’atar. I love this mix of sumac, dried oregano, sesame seeds and salt, but you could swap this out for just dried thyme or oregano if you like.
- Egg. This is key for binding the stuffing balls together, without it, they’ll be dry and fall apart.
- Parsley. Flat-leaf parsley is best. I also love to throw in fresh sage for an extra festive twist.
How to make them
Slice down your sausages and squeeze the meat from the skins into a large mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients, then mix it well. It’s easiest to do this with your hands, so you can pop on some gloves and get your hands in there.
Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the stuffing mix and roll it into a ball in your hands. Place on a tray and repeat with the rest of the mixture then bake until golden.
PREP AHEAD: You can form the stuffing balls 3 days in advance, then just bake them when you’re ready. These also work brilliantly in the air fryer.
Got a question?
Yes! That’s what’s great about these. You can make them up to 3 days ahead of time, then just cook them when you’re ready.
You can use any other nut you like – hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts or pistachios are great too.
I love using chopped dried apricots in these balls in place of cranberries – you could really use any dried fruit you like.
Once cooked, they’ll keep for at least 3 days stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
Complete your Christmas menu with these ideas
If you make these stuffing balls, I’d love to hear how you get on! You can leave me a comment below.
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Stuffing Balls with Cranberries and Pecans
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 balls
Description
Skip the bland boxed stuffing mix and make these juicy sausage stuffing balls instead. They’re loaded with dried cranberries, pecans and sage for a lovely festive twist and are super easy to prep ahead of time (up to 3 days!)ย ย
ย Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas and they make fab party bites too. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (I love this herby green tahini sauce).
Ingredients
- 1lb/500g sausages (ideally good quality and free-range)
- 3.5oz/100g fresh breadcrumbs (roughly 2 slices of sourdough bread)
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon zaโatar
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
- Handful of sage leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients.ย Heat your oven to 360F/180C fanbake and line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Roughly chop the pecans, cranberries and flat-leaf parsley. You can either finely chop up or tear the bread slices, or tear them roughly then throw them into the bowl of a food processor and blitz a couple of times to break them up into chunky breadcrumbs.ย
- Make the stuffing mix.ย Get a large mixing bowl ready, cut through the sausage skin, and squeeze the meat into the bowl. Add the chopped pecans, cranberries, flat-leaf parsley, breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon of za’atar, 1 teaspoon of salt and the egg. Mix everything really well with a large wooden spoon (or get your hands in there!) so that everything is combined.
- Form and cook the stuffing balls. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of the mixture into your hands, then roll it into a ball a little smaller than a golf ball. Place on the prepared oven tray, then repeat with the rest of the mixture. You should get about 20 stuffing balls. Transfer to the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes (check on them after 20 minutes), until the balls look golden brown. Remove from the oven, and serve.
Notes
PREP AHEAD: You can roll the balls up to 3 days ahead of time and then just bake them when you’re ready. Store the uncooked balls in airtight containers in the fridge.ย
SUBSTITUTIONS: Swap the cranberries for chopped dried apricots, or switch out the pecans for almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts or hazelnuts. Swap the flat-leaf parsley for sage, thyme, rosemary or oregano. If you can’t find za’atar, used dried thyme, sage or oregano.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: These are lovely served with a drizzle of hot honey sauce, and served with cranberry sauce or your favorite relish – this fig and tamarind chutney works really well. Sweet chili jam is also great with them, as is spicy gochujang aioli.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: sides
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 balls
- Calories: 260
- Sugar: 0.5g
- Sodium: 656mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 6.1g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 13.1g
- Cholesterol: 64mg
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